A hybrid Trench Knife in a WWII U.S. Army Training Film.

[MilitariaOne]

Greetings all,

I wished to share an interesting circa 1943 U.S. Army’s Training video, which shows (amongst other things) an oddball hybrid type of trench knife being used to dispatch a German Soldier (blade’s wipe at the end is a nice touch). The knife in question (stills from the film see below) appears to possess a knuckle bow/end washer from a U.S, M1917 (A.C.Co’s or H.D. & S.’ made variant) and a flat blade from a section of M1913 Patton Saber (a guess due to the central running fuller) or a similar donor blade’s source. If I viewed this knife in hand, I would likely classify it as a “Theater Made” contrivance, which is the typical catch-all for non-standard/non-factory-made knives. Whatever the heck it is, it’s pretty neat.

The knife in question’s debut starts at 03:42 minutes point in the linked video's .url below. Additionally, the U.S. Trench Knife Mark I is briefly highlighted (just before knife in question & again at 06:09).

Best line in this film “Toss in a grenade and let ‘em divide it.” However, there are plenty of other corny and jingoistic contenders.

Your welcome,

V/r Lance

Double click on image to enlarge.



https://youtu.be/-tj2eE65yS4

YouTube

[Chopperman]

Very cool, Lance.

[Anderson]

Quite a well done training film, but the commentary is amusing. "with a rifle you can tattoo a German at 500 yards.."

[AZPhil]

Boy that was MOTO!!!! I couldn't watch it on my Guberment computer, but it had the Marines gather around me as I watched it on my phone.
Thanks Lance.
Great war time training right there!

Semper Fi
Phil

[reneblacky]

Thank you kindly for the boobtube link, I found a whole heap of US training films there! I've just downloaded 51 of them so far for my archives.
Thanks again Mate.